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Top 5 Illustrator Tutorials on Vectortuts+ in February 2013

Welcome to the first of a monthly series showcasing our favorite Adobe Illustrator tutorials available on Vectortuts+. Vectortuts+ is a blog of tutorials, articles, freebies and more on all things vector! We publish tutorials on techniques and effects to make awesome vector graphics in Adobe Illustrator. My name is Sharon Milne and I’m the Editor of Vectortuts+ and it is my pleasure to share with the Adobe Illustrator community five of our most interesting and popular tutorials published during February 2013.

In this tutorial, Chris Carey will show you how to use the Pen Tool (P) and Appearance panel to create a set of rubber band corner banner treatments using Adobe Illustrator. These are perfect for bringing attention to images on the web.

You can check out more of his work over on deviantART, as well as following him on Twitter.

Mary Winkler‘s tutorial this month focuses on creating a vibrant, poppy portrait in Adobe Illustrator. Using bright colors, transparent gradients, and a sense of whimsy, you’ll be constructing facial features and candy hair in no time.

You can check out more of her work over on her website Acrylicana.com.

An ampersand is the name of the type character “&” used in place of the word “and.” The character developed as a ligature of the letters et, Latin for “and.” In this tutorial Tanita Makena draws calligraphic versions of ampersands in Adobe Illustrator using the Pen Tool (P) and Width Tool (Shift + W). She’ll also show you how to save your creations to the Symbols panel for use in your future projects.

In this tutorial, Asher Benson walks you through the step-by-step procedure of making a mermaid with an affinity for all things punk rock. From her Hello Kitty belly button ring to her wild and untamable quaff of blue-green hair, you’ll explore the mind-blowing world of color and form that is vector.

In the following tutorial, Andrei Marius shows how to create a simple zipper illustration in Adobe Illustrator. We’ll be creating the starting shapes using the Rectangle Tool, the Pathfinder panel and some basic shape building techniques. Next, we’ll go on to adding the details using the Transform and the Drop Shadow effects along with some basic blending techniques. For the final touches we’ll use some Warp effects, the Appearance panel and a simple built-in pattern.

From the Vectortuts+ Archives

Every month, as well as sharing with you our favorite tutorials from Vectortuts+, I’ll be sharing with you one of our favorite tutorials from our archives. This month we have a tutorial by Webdesigntuts+ Editor Ian Yates. This tutorial was originally published in January 2009 and is still a favorite with our readers.